Three Fatal Accidents on the Water

We’ve learned about three area deaths on the water over the past few days. An Eastern Missouri man crashed his boat into a fixed object on the Big Niangua Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks. 61-year-old James Koch of High Ridge was pronounced dead at the scene Friday night.

Also on Friday, a 35-year-old Illinois man fell in the water near his boat on Mark Twain Lake and died. Authorities are conducting an autopsy on the body of Springfield native Nathan Hoffman.

And on Saturday, a Rolla man drowned while trying to cross the Gasconade River in South Central Missouri’s Wright County. The Highway Patrol reports Jeremy Hinkemeyer went under water at about 3:30 Saturday afternoon, and never re-surfaced.